Thank you for joining the National Dialogue on Social Security. We are glad you have chosen to participate and we would like to help bring you up to speed on what we have done. If you are looking for background information on Social Security Reform, the Options for Reform Roundtable Discussion should provide a good starting point. You can also find background material in the Fast Facts and the Briefing Book.

We began the National Dialogue with a Forum on Values, which has since evolved into a General Discussion of Social Security reform. Because this discussion is ongoing, we would like your input in this area. We had asked the participants to react to several short statements on the values underlying the Social Security system and we would like your reactions, too. You should start by reading the following postings:

• Introduction to the discussion
• Carolyn Lukensmeyer's welcome message
• Statement from Robert Myers
• Question on Values

For a brief overview of the discussion we suggest that you read some of the discussion summaries which can be found in the message archive.

In our first Roundtable Discussion, Why Reform Now, the Chairman and three other members of the House Ways and Means Committee debated both the need for reform and what it should look like. You can follow their discussion by clicking on the Why Reform Now discussion and reading the exchanges that are highlighted in red. You can also read their position papers. To get a quick overview of what our participants thought, you can check out the Daily Summaries.

Our second roundtable was a discussion on the Options for Reform and here you could read the position papers of our four-roundtable panelists or you could read the discussion between moderator and the panelists on the various options for reform. The Daily Summaries will also provide an overview of what the participants thought.

We hope that this helps and that you will join us now in the ongoing discussions in the Current Legislative Proposals, Women and Minorities, and Investing in Stocks Roundtables and the ongoing Values forum.